Mother arrested in deaths of her 3 young girls remains hospitalized

Investigators are trying to determine a motive in the killing of three young girls in Torrance.

The 30-year-old mother of three young children who were found slain inside the family's Torrance-area home remained hospitalized Wednesday after she was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said.

The victims were girls who ranged in age from 2 months to 3 years old, authorities said. They were found in the same room of a small home Tuesday night in the 1000 block of West 223rd Street in an unincorporated neighborhood near Torrance around 5: 20 p.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

Their mother, identified as Carol Coronado, was taken to a hospital and later arrested.

Coroner's officials, meanwhile, did not release any information on the girls, including how they died. Autopsies were to be performed Thursday.

Lt. Dave Coleman on Tuesday told The Times that investigators recovered several knives at the scene, but added that there “could be multiple causes of death.”

“There was a lot of blood," he said. “It was a pretty substantial scene inside the residence.”

The father and the grandmother were at the home when deputies arrived, Coleman said. The grandmother called 911.

The father was being questioned late Tuesday at the Carson sheriff's station, but was not arrested.